Banding machine



July], 1941. W g @WEMs 2,247,398

BANDING MACHINE Filed March 25, 1940 Patented July 1, 1941 UETE Sill EANDING MACHINE Walter Lee Owens, Chesterfield, Ind., assignor to Robert W. Shoemaker, Anderson, Ind.

6 Claims.

The invention relates to the banding or steel binding of metals or other materials in various shapes or forms and more particularly to a banding machine or tool especially adapted for banding of bundles of steel sheets cut to length.

Sheets of steel are usually shipped from the mill in bundles bound with steel bands or strap ping, the ends of which are connected together by sheet metal seals.

The customer to whom the sheets are to be shipped usually specifies the weight of the bundles of sheets to be shipped to him, and bundles of sheets of the desired weight are banded together in separate units at the mill for shipping.

Under present practice the sheets are stacked upon a truck or skid as they come from the shear or other equipment, and as the stack of sheets reaches the height necessary to form a bundle of the weight desired by the customer, the truck or skid with the stack of sheets thereon is removed to another location and banded or bundled as a unit with steel strapping or bands fastened together with sheet metal seals, and another truck is in the meantime placed in position at the shears.

This requires the use of a considerable number of trucks or skids as each stack of sheets must be banded or bundled upon a separatetruck or skid owing to the nature of the banding machines or tools now in common use.

Such banding machines are placed for operation upon the top of the stack of sheets to be banded or bundled and cannot be used for banding or bundling stacks of sheets which are tiered two or more high.

The present invention relates to a banding machine or tool designed to be used to band or bundle a plurality of stacks of sheets piled in superimposed tiers upon a single truck or skid, thus, permittingone truck or skid to remain in. position at the shears or other equipment until a capacity load of sheets has been stacked in tiers thereon, after which the several stacks of sheets may be handed or bundled without removing them fromthe truck or skid.

An object of the present invention is to provide a banding machine or tool which will satisfactorily band or bundle sheets with steel strapping or bands after the sheets havebeen tiered in stacks two or more high.

Another object of the inventionis to provide abanding machine which will save time, floor space and the number of trucks or skids required for stacking the sheets to be banded or bundled.

A further object'is to provide a machine which will stretch the bands tighter than machines such as are now in common use for this purpose, due to the fact that no part of the improved banding machine is located between the bands and the sheets or other material being banded with steel bands or strapping.

A' still further object is to eliminate damage to the sheets or other material being banded as no part of the improved banding machine touches the material being bundled.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine which is simple, inexpensive and of lightweight construction, while being rugged, easily portable, and quickly and easily operated.

The above objects together with others which willbe apparent from the drawing and following description or which may be later referred to may be attained by constructing the improved banding machine in the manner illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which- Figure 1 is an elevation of the improved banding machine or tool showing the manner of operating the same to stretch a band of steel strapping or the like around stacks of sheets which arepiled in tiers;

Fig. 2, a plan View of the tool shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3, aplan view of a modified form of tool;

Fig. 4-, a side elevation of the tool shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5, a section taken as on the line 5-5, Fig. 3; and

Fig. 6, a section taken as on the line -45, Fig; 3.

Similar numerals refer to similar throughout the several views.

Referring first to the simplest form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the improved banding machine or tool includes an operating handle or lever lll which may be formed of a steel bar or the like preferably offset as at H at a point near the end to which the gripper foot is attached.

At this end of the lever an angular stud E2 is formed or fixed thereto and the gripping foot i3 is pivotally mounted thereon and held against displacement as by the cotter pin it.

This gripper foot has a substantially flat under surface which is preferably serrated as indicated at l5 so as to frictionally engage the top surface of the steel strapping or band to be stretched around the bundle of sheets or the like.

A stud I6 is fixed to the lever Iii adjacent to the foot l3 and parallel to the stud l2 upon which parts said foot is'pivoted, and provided throughout the greaterpart of its length with a diametric slot l l.

The device may be made in either right or left hand types by forming the offset ll of the lever in the opposite direction and placing the foot l3 and stud IS on the opposite side of the lever from that shown in the drawing.

In the operation of the improved banding machine, the material to be banded, if sheets in cut lengths, is piled in a stack indicated at !8, upon the transversely disposed wood blocks E9 in customary manner.

Ordinarily it is only possible to pile one stack of sheets upon a support for banding or bundling since the types of banding machines now in common use cannot be used for banding the stack of sheets if other stacks are tiered above the same.

However, with the present improved banding machine, wood blocks l9a may be placed upon the stack of sheets as shown at !8 and sheets may be stacked thereon as shown at l8a, the improved banding machine being so constructed that it may operate upon the top of the stack of sheets indicated at l3 Without interference by the sheets tiered above the same, as indicated in Fig. 1.

The wood blocksare provided with grooves 29 so that the steel band or strapping 2! may be passed between the bottom of each wood block and the truck or skid platform 22 or lower stack of sheets upon which the stack to be banded is supported.

To start the operation the steel band 2| is placed around the material to be banded and the wood blocks on which it is supported with the ends overlapping as indicated at 23 sufficiently to accommodate the ordinary sheet metal seal of the desired size tobe used.

The seal, as indicated at 241, is then placed in position after which the foot I3 of the banding machine is inserted between the stacks l8 and I811 and placed upon the top of the band 2! at a point near the edge of the bundle as shown in Fig. l.

The lever or handle I8 is inclined downward at about a 30 angle below the horizontal as shown in said figure, and overlapping end 25 of the band is inserted into the slot ll. of the stud it, the protruding end of the band being bent sharply back as at 26 to prevent slipping of the band through the slot.

The handle or lever it is then raised to the broken line position shown in Fig. 1 drawing-the band tightly around the bundle of sheets and the seal 24! is then'crimped with the conventional type of sealing machine.

The lever or handle Ill may then be lowered and the protruding end 25 of the band may be broken or cut ,ofi above the seal 25. If desired, the seal may be placed upon the top of the bundle insteadof on the side as indicated.

In Figs. 3 to 6, inclusive, is illustrated a modification of the improved banding machine especially adapted for use in close quarters or where an extreme amount of slack in the bands is to be taken up.

In this form of the banding machine or tool the slotted stud which receives the end of the band is rotatably mounted upon the lever handle and provided with means for rotating the stud and holding it in adjusted position. i

The handle Eda may be substantially'the same as in the form disclosed in Figs 1 and 2 provided with the offset Ma and having the fixed or integral stud iZa at its working end upon which is pivotally mounted the foot l3a which may be similar to the foot l3 above described having a flat serrated lower surface Ma.

The stud 16a is provided with the diametric slot Ila for receiving the end of the band and is rotatably mounted upon the lever handle Ilia adjacent to the foot l3a and parallel to the axis thereof.

A hollow handle 2'5 is journaled upon the other end portion of the stud lfia and has mounted therein a pawl 28 engaging the teeth of the 0p erating ratchet 29 which is fixed upon the stud 56a within the hollow handle 2i.

This pawl is normally held in engagement with the ratchet 29 as by a spring 39 one end thereof being connected to a stud 3| in the handle 21 and the other end being held against the pawl 28 as shown in Fig. 6, by means of a pin 3! A holding ratchet 32 is fixed upon the stud Ilia between the handles Illa and 27 and a holding pawl 33 is pivotally mounted upon the handle I Ba as at 3d and normally held in engagement with the ratchet 32 as by a spring 35 one end of which is connected to the handle Ilia as by a stud 36, the other end being held against the pawl 33 as by the pin 3?.

Thus, it will be seen that as the handle 2? is moved upward relative to the handle its the operating pawl 28 carried by said handle, engaging the operating ratchet 29 upon the stud, will rotate the stud counter-clockwise, as viewed in the drawing.

As the handle 29 is then moved downward relative to the handle iia the holding pawl 33 will engage the teeth of the holding ratchet 32 and prevent rotation of the stud lEa while the operating pawl 28 will click over the teeth of the operating ratchet 2%.

This type of the machine as well as that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 may be made in either right or left hand types and the feet and slotted studs may be of any desired width to handle bands or strapping of Various widths.

In the operation of this form of the machine, the foot is placed upon the band on the top of the stack or bundle to be banded in the same manner as described with reference to Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, with the handle liia located downward at an angle.

The handle lila may then be swung upward to take as much slack as possibleout of the band which may then be further tightened by operating the handle 21 as many times as necessary to tighten the band to the desired extent after which the seal may be clamped as in usual practice.

Although the improved banding machine is described as especially adapted for banding bundles of sheets cut to length and mounted on wood blocks, it should be understood that the machine may be used for banding plain bundles, boxes, bails, coils or other material.

I claim:

1. A banding machine for stretching a band around a bundle, said machine including a lever, a gripping foot pivotally mounted upon one side of the lever at one end thereof and having a single flat plane serrated surface for frictionally engaging only the band that encircles the bundle being banded, and a stud carried by the handle adjacent to the foot, the axis of the stud being parallel to the axis of the pivot of the foot, there being a diametric slot through the stud for receiving one end of the band].

2. A banding machine for stretching a band around a bundle, said machine including a lever,

a gripping foot pivotally mounted upon one side of the lever at one end thereof and having a single flat plane serrated surface for frictionally engaging only the band that encircles the bundle being banded, and a stud carried by the handle adjacent to the foot, the axis of the stud being parallel to the axis of the pivot of the foot, there being a diametric slot through the stud for receiving one end of the band, the lever being offset intermediate its ends so that the outer end of the lever is substantially inline with the flat face of the foot.

3. A banding machine for stretching a band around a bundle, said machine including a lever, a gripping foot pivotally mounted upon one side of the lever at one end thereof and having a fiat serrated surface for frictionally engaging only the band that encircles the bundle being banded, a stud carried by the handle adjacent to the foot, the axis of the stud being parallel to the axis of the pivot of the foot, there being a diametric slot through the stud for receiving one end of the band, means for rotating the stud relative to the lever, and means for holding the stud in adjusted position relative to the lever.

4. A banding machine for stretching a band around a bundle, said machine including a lever, a gripping foot pivotally mounted upon one side of the lever at one end thereof and having a fiat serrated surface for frictionally engaging only the band that encircles the bundle being banded, a stud carried by the handle adjacent to the foot, the axis of the stud being parallel to the axis of the pivot of the foot, there being a diametric slot through the stud for receiving one end of the band, ratchet and pawl means for rotating the stud relative to the lever, and means for holding the stud in adjusted position relative to the lever.

5. A banding machine for stretching a band around! a bundle, said machine including a lever, a gripping foot pivotally mounted upon one side of the lever at one end thereof and having a fiat serrated surface for frictionally engaging only the band that encircles the bundle being banded, a stud carried by the handle adjacent to the foot, the axis of the stud being parallel to the axis of the pivot of the foot, there being a diametric slot through the stud for receiving one end of the stud, ratchet and pawl means for rotating the stud relative to the lever, and ratchet and pawl means for holding the stud in adjusted position relative to the lever.

6. A banding machine for stretching a band around a bundle, said machine including a lever, a gripping foot pivotally mounted upon one side of the lever at one end thereof and having at fiat serrated surface for frictionally engaging only the band that encircles the bundle being handed,

and a stud carried by the handle adjacent to the foot, the axis of the stud being parallel to the axis of the pivot of the foot, there being a diametric slot through the stud for receiving one end 

